The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday carried out searches at nine locations in five cities at the premises of former media magnet Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani in connection with the Sheena Bora murder case.
CBI sources said that agency teams swooped down at the residences of Peter and Indrani, two each in Mumbai and Goa, Indrani's ancestral home in Guwahati, her driver Shyamvar Pinturam Rai's houses in Mumbai and Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, and the residence of Sanjeev Khanna in Kolkata.
25-year-old Sheena, Indrani's daughter from her first marriage, was murdered on 24 April, 2012, and her body was burnt and disposed off in a forest in Raigad district in Maharashtra the next day.
The agency has filed the case under various sections of Indian Penal Code including criminal conspiracy, murder, abduction, destruction of evidence, causing hurt by giving poison and Arms Act.
CBI took over the investigation of the case which was earlier probed by Mumbai Police on the allegations that the accused persons - Indrani, Khanna and Rai - hatched a criminal conspiracy to murder Sheena.
In pursuance of this conspiracy, the accused allegedly abducted Sheena, murdered her and disposed off her body, agency spokesperson had said in a statement.
The decision to handover the probe to CBI came after days of uncertainty on the supervisory role of former Mumbai Police chief Rakesh Maria, who was shunted out in the midst of the inquiry that he had helmed proactively.
The decision was taken by the state government after Maharashtra director general of police Sanjeev Dayal submitted a status report on the case which had concluded that the case is not limited to murder alone, but there are many questions on financial dealings that remain unanswered.
The judicial custody of Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai was extended on Monday by a local magistrate till October 31 in connection with the Sheena Bora murder case.
Magistrate NB Shinde extended the trio’s remand for 12 days after it came to an end on Monday. None of the accused were produced in the court.
“The court has extended their judicial custody till October 31,” said defence lawyer Shreyansh Mithare.
Mithare also said that Rai has written a letter to the court saying that he wants to reveal something to the court in person. The court may issue a production warrant for him.
On September 7, a fortnight after their arrest and prolonged interrogation, the court had remanded Indrani and her driver Shyam Rai to judicial custody till September 21, which was later extended till October 5.
On September 8, Khanna too was remanded to judicial custody.
Indrani, Khanna and Rai have been arrested on the charge of murdering Sheena and disposing off her body in a Raigad forest in April 2012.
The police had exhumed remains of a body from a forest in Raigad and later claimed that the digital superimposition of the profile of Sheena had matched with the skull recovered from the forest.
The police have also extensively grilled Indrani’s husband Peter Mukerjea, though he is not an accused in the case. Others questioned in connection with the case include Peter’s son Rahul Mukherjea and Vidhie, daughter of Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna.
The police have also questioned Siddharth Das, the biological father of Sheena and Mikhail Bora.
Sheena, 24, was allegedly strangled in a car, and her body was burnt and dumped at a forest in Raigad, about 84 kilometre from Mumbai.
In September, the Maharashtra government decided to transfer the Sheena Bora murder probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation after days of uncertainty on the supervisory role of former Mumbai police Chief Rakesh Maria, who was shunted in the midst of the inquiry that he had helmed proactively.
The decision for a probe free from “prejudices” was announced at a press conference on September 18 by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi, who said that the financial angle of the case has also been taken into account in transferring the probe to the CBI.
Ahmad Javed, a Director General-rank officer, was posted in place of Maria, who was promoted as DG (Home Guards).
On October 2, Indrani was rushed to the JJ Hospital from Byculla womens’ prison in an unconscious state, fuelling speculation that she had overdosed on anti-depressant drugs accumulated beyond prescribed quantity.
Later, laboratory tests of urine samples came out with conflicting reports on this aspect.
Subsequently, the probe conducted by the inspector general (prisons) had rejected the possibility of drug overdose, poisoning or suicide bid. The officer concluded that her condition could have worsened as she had briefly stopped taking medicines and was suffering from weakness.
On October 6, she was discharged and sent back to jail. A day later, a local court allowing a CBI plea, granted the agency 12 days permit to quiz all the three accused in the case.
